Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy is Lucille Ball's third network television sitcom. It ran on CBS-TV for six seasons, from September 23, 1968 to March 18, 1974. Background/History Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the previous (1967-68) season, finishing in the top five of the Nielsen Ratings (at #2), Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season and create a new show, as she had just sold Desilu Productions (which owned and produced The Lucy Show), to Gulf & Western. Ball, who had stated that she did not wish to continue to star in a show that she no longer owned, also made it known that she did not wish to continue to star in a show unless her two children agreed to co-star, and thus an entirely new show was written for this purpose. Interview with Lucie Arnaz. The Archive of American Television (December 9, 2011). Doris Singleton, Caroline Appleby from I Love Lucy, has said she was originally going to be a series regular on the show as Harry Carter's secretary, but the idea was dropped when Lucy brought her children on board with the show. Here's Lucy was produced by Ball's newly created production company, Lucille Ball Productions. Desilu's successor, Paramount Television (created by Gulf-Western as Desliu's succesor; a newly created production company and cable network of the same name was created by Paramount Pictures in 2013, reviving the name brand) , co-produced the first season, but sold its stake in the show to Ball afterwards. As a result, it is currently the only show starring Ball that is not owned by PTV's successor CBS Paramount Television (PTV gained rights to her final show, Life with Lucy, after then-parent Viacom acquired co-producer Spelling Entertainment). Unlike most sitcoms of the era, Here's Lucy was filmed before a live audience; standard practice at the time was to film an episode on a closed set and add a laugh track during post-production. However, a laugh track was still used to fill any gaps in audience reactions or missed punchlines. The live format was requested by Ball herself, as she performed better in the presence of an audience. Premise The program's premise changed from The Lucy Show. Ball's character lived in Los Angeles, California and was named Lucy Carter. In this new incarnation, she had two children named Kim and Craig, played by her real life children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. She worked for an employment agency run by her brother-in-law Harry, played by Gale Gordon in a role similar to his Mr. Mooney role from The Lucy Show. Mary Jane Croft, who had costarred on the last three seasons of The Lucy Show, also became a regular on the new series, and Ball's longtime costar Vivian Vance also made numerous guest appearances through the series' run. Cast Guest Appearances Perhaps the most famous episode was one from 1970 in which Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor guest star in a storyline involving their famous diamond, which becomes stuck on Lucy's finger. Ball and Burton reportedly did not get along, as he found Ball's rigid perfectionism grating and he subsequently wrote about her in extremely unflattering terms in his memoir. During its network run, Here's Lucy featured a number of famous guest stars, many of whom were Ball's real life friends, often playing themselves (as had also been the case during the final three years of The Lucy Show). Among the famous stars, Ann-Margret, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, George Burns, Carol Burnett, Johnny Carson, Petula Clark, Vincent Price, Tony Randall, Dinah Shore, Danny Thomas, Lawrence Welk, Flip Wilson and Shelly Winters all appeared during the run of the show. In addition, Lucille Ball appeared as herself (in an episode in which Lucy Carter enters a Lucille Ball look-alike contest; the episode featured then fairly new technology, enabling Ball to appear on screen with herself). Proposed spin-off At the end of the third season, Desi Arnaz, Jr. decided to leave the series to pursue a movie acting career. His character of Craig returned in the fifth-season episode "Lucy and Joe Namath', but after that he never again appeared on the show although Craig was referred to from time to time. With Desi Jr.'s absence, Lucie Arnaz's character of Kim became more a prominent part of the program as well as a strong comedic foil for both Ball and Gordon. During the fourth season, the producers proposed a spin-off of the show for Kim, titled The Lucie Arnaz Show. The show would have Kim and her friend, Sue (Susan Tolsky) live in their own apartment in a building run by Lucy's brother, Herb Hinkley (Alan Oppenheimer), who is very over protective of Kim. The show was a back-door pilot, airing as the season four finale. The pilot was anticipated to be picked up as a weekly series. The week before this installment aired, Vivian Vance made her annual (and final) appearance on Here's Lucy in the episode "With Viv as a Friend, Who Needs an Enemy?" Vance had moved back to California by this time and Ball was so thrilled to work with her again that she asked Vance to rejoin her as her comrade on Here's Lucy the following season if her daughter's pilot sold to CBS. However, Arnaz's show was not well received and was not included in the 1972–73 fall lineup. In addition, shortly after finishing the episode with Ball, Vance was diagnosed with breast cancer and then suffered a slight stroke. Lucie Arnaz remained with Here's Lucy until the show ended in the spring of 1974. The pilot, "Kim Finally Cuts You-Know-Whose sic Apron Strings", was written by Lucy veteran writers Madelyn Davis & Bob Carroll, Jr. Cast *Lucie Arnaz as Kim Carter *Susan Tolsky as Sue *Alan Oppenheimer as Herb Hinkley Episodes Main Article: List of "Here's Lucy" episodes Series overview Lucille Ball's leg injury In 1972, Ball suffered a leg fracture in a skiing accident and as a result, spent much of the 1972-73 season in a full-leg cast. (This was written into to the show, with the Lucy Carter character also breaking her leg.) The "slapstick" was toned down for the remainder of the series, given Ball's decreased ability to perform physical comedy, as a result of her injury. Ratings Decline and Final episode In the spring of 1973, Here's Lucy had fallen to #15 in the ratings ─ the first time that a series starring Lucille Ball had fallen out of the top ten. Ball then decided that her fifth season would be her last. A final episode was filmed with Gale Gordon without a studio audience. In that installment, Harry's business was sold and he and Lucy reminisced together (using flashbacks) about their various adventures together. At the end of the episode, they both leave the office. Lucy then leaves a sign that says "closed temporarily", then she looks at the camera and winks. At the last minute, CBS president Fred Silverman convinced Ball to change her mind and return for a sixth season. Here's Lucy ceased production at the end of the 1973-74 season, thus ending nearly twenty-three continuous years of Ball appearing weekly on television. Though it was widely reported at the time that it was Ball's decision not to continue (as she wanted to pursue other projects), a number of sources through the years have stated that it was CBS that chose not to renew the series for the following season. The ratings had fallen during the final season, though Here's Lucy did still finish in the top thirty at the end of the 1974 season. (The network was also in the process of reinventing its image, having already replaced much of their old guard television product with more contemporary fare like All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show; Ball was the last performer from TV's classic age who still had a weekly series at the beginning of 1974.) References External links Category:TV shows